GolfStinks

A Golf Blog for the Rest of Us!

The Art of Drinking on the Golf Course

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There’s a fine line between enjoying an adult beverage whilst playing a round of golf…and getting completely tanked; driving your cart into the pond on 15; and getting banned for life from that particular establishment.

There’s nothing worse than getting paired up with (or playing behind) a couple of sauced golfers. Drinking and golf can go hand-in-hand, but there’s an art to it. The trick is to drink enough to relax and enjoy yourself, but not so much that you can’t remember your round.

If you’re one of those people (and trust me, they exist) who have to get drunk when they play golf, perhaps you should sell your clubs on eBay and use the money to buy a keg. Seriously, for those people, on some level of their subconscious, golf is meaningless. So when they do play, they have to drink to make it fun.

But, for those of us who really love to golf, drinking in moderation can be a nice way to get more enjoyment out of your round. For example, we were exchanging tweets with @GolfMonger last week about how his foursome doesn’t have very good cart golf etiquette:

GolfStinks_Twitter

“But the beer is always cold.” I love that line. I mean, you could be having the worst round of your life, but if the cooler you strapped to the cart back in the parking lot is still dispensing ice-cold brew on the 18th, then all is right in the world. Why?

We need to think of golf in terms of “a lot of different enjoyments in life coming together for one experience.” Let’s combine the pleasures of going on a walk in the woods; with the camaraderie you feel amongst good friends; along with the competitiveness of playing sports – this is what golf is.

If your group of friends also happens to enjoy a few beers while being in each other’s company, then tossing that into the mix makes all the sense in the world. And this is a very important lesson to learn about golf: Your score is not the point…having fun is. You don’t have to be a good golfer to love golf – you just have to enjoy playing golf.

Just don’t get plastered – after all, there’s an art to drinking on the golf course.

Golf Stinks if your Grip Stinks

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PACKAGING1So one of the things we typically don’t do here at GolfStinks is give you swing advice. We’re not expert golfers, we’re golf connoisseurs – we love golf, even though we mostly stink at it! But every once in a while, we come across a product we feel can be of benefit to the average golf hack – and that’s what we believe we’ve found in Golf-Grip.

About 10 years ago, my golf swing was a mess and I took a lesson. The very first thing the pro corrected on me was my grip – and to help me train my mind on a producing a consistent grip every time I picked up a club, he had me practice with one of those weighted clubs with the molded grip.

Now I had seen those “practice” clubs before and always dismissed them as gimmicky – but once I started using the club, I realized just how wrong my old grip was. Around the same time I took the lesson, I was also reading Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons” book – one of the most popular golf swing books of all time. I became convinced that my new grip was correct by the way my hands looked in the mirror when gripping the practice club – they looked exactly like the drawing of Hogan’s hands in the “grip” section of his book.

There may be other flaws in your swing – on the backswing or downswing or both, but you can’t even begin to address those issues unless you have the right grip to start with. And the good news is, you don’t need a lesson from a pro to begin fixing that grip.

Up until recently, you had to go out and spend $50 or more on one of those molded practice clubs. And while those clubs help train you on the proper grip, switching back to your real clubs always felt a bit different. In my case, my real club’s grips were thinner than the practice club, so I had a harder time transitioning my newly corrected grip over to my actual clubs. And that’s the cool thing about the Golf-Grip. It not only trains you both physically and mentally to produce a consistent and, more importantly, correct grip, but it’s also made to fit on your clubs. Just line it up with your club head and snap it on.

Seeing as it’s snowing outside as I type this, now’s the perfect time for me to take a few practice swings in the house. And to keep fresh in my mind the proper grip technique, I snapped my Golf-Grip onto my 60-degree wedge and began gearing-up for the new season. Not bad for only 23 bucks!

OK, so now that I basically sound like a freaking infomercial, I’m gonna tell you how to get a Golf-Grip for FREE! As always, whenever we review a product, we ask the manufacturer to send us two – one for us to test out, and one for us to giveaway to one of you! All you have to do is head on over to our Facebook page and “Like” the post on our wall entitled: “Golf Stinks if your Grip Stinks Giveaway!” That’s it – We’ll choose one random winner later in the week!

Good Luck and get practicing – only 43 more days till spring!

What Time Do You Play Golf?

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Are you up at the crack of dawn to play golf? Because that's when I snapped this photo! (photo by Greg D'Andrea)
Are you up at the crack of dawn to play golf? Because that’s when I snapped this photo! (photo by Greg D’Andrea)

My alarm went off at 5 a.m. on a Friday morning. Now I work from home, so typically I roll out of bed around eight to start work around nine. But on this particular Friday, I was up at the crack of dawn. Why? To play golf, of course.

An old work buddy (from my days in the office) whom I recently rekindled a friendship with was playing 9-holes that day and I was going to join him. His mission: Play golf and still stay out of the doghouse with his wife. So as many golfers do to avoid the scorn of their significant other, my pal decided to play first thing in the morning.

We were on the tee at 6 a.m. and back home before 9 a.m.. It was golf, but not as I knew it. I was tired; chilly; and still had a full day of work ahead of me. But there were no complaints from either of our wives. We played golf under the radar and avoided that “look” – you know, that “look” you get when you remind your non-golfing wife on Saturday morning that you’re playing golf all day.

But was it worth it? Meh, the jury is still out for me. But perhaps it’s because my non-golfing wife is a bit more understanding (I typically get to play in the middle of the day on a weekend – especially if it’s only 9-holes). But if that wasn’t the case, perhaps squeezing in 9 before 9 would work for me.

Anyway, this all got me thinking about when other golfers play. Do you play at the crack of dawn or at a more normal morning hour? Do you play mid-day or save a few bucks with the twilight rate and hope to finish before sunset? Obviously, the POLL is in summer hours (when the day is long); but tell us what you do!

What Time of Day Do You Play Golf?

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7 Ways Golf Helps Drive the U.S. Economy

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Source: 2011 Golf Economy Report (golf2020.com)

Money circulates in, through and around the golf industry – that much you know. What you might not know is just how much money. What if I told you it was in the hundreds of…wait for it…BILLIONS.

According to the latest Golf Economy Report (commissioned for the 2011 calendar year and released in October 2012 by the World Golf Foundation and Golf 20/20), the golf industry has an indirect economic impact of $176.8 billion in the United States. And, if you extrapolate that out to include everyone’s salary who is affected by a golf-related transaction, the number is even more staggering: Nearly two trillion dollars.

Such robust numbers led the report’s authors to conclude that, “The game of golf is an industry in its own right, and contributes significantly to the U.S. economy.” But how does golf pump that much cash into the system on a annual basis – especially in light of recent economic woes? Well the report boils it down to seven ways.

1) Let’s begin with golf courses. There are nearly 16,000 facilities in the U.S. (some with multiple courses) that employ nearly a million people. But beyond wages, money is spent on several other things such as maintenance (gas, fertilizer and pesticides etc.) and food and beverage (the 19th hole) – in all, golf courses are collectively responsible for contributing more than $86 billion to the U.S. economy.

2) What about hospitality and tourism? This is an area that has actually seen a rise over the last decade. People are traveling to play golf and the money they spend in relation to that travel is substantial – nearly $65 billion is in some way, shape or form correlated to golf-related travel every year.

3) We all know the real estate market has suffered over the past half decade and golf real estate (residential golf-related construction) is no exception. But it’s still the third-biggest contributor, to the tune of nearly $11 billion.

4) The next category lumps the pro tours in with associations (both national and local) and player endorsements. When Tiger and Rory sign a lucrative deal with Nike, many people benefit. This bucket contributes $6.6 billion.

5) Need a new set of clubs? Although people haven’t been spending as much on golf supplies (including equipment and apparel) over the last few years, this space still accounts for $6.5 billion annually.

6) Another thing to suffer due to the recent recession has been new course openings. And while not as much capital has exchanged hands, investors are still investing – nearly $1.8 billion on new course developments in 2011.

7) The last thing on the list might surprise you, but believe it or not, the golf industry is a bit of a philanthropist. Be it a local charity tournament or other fund raising through various organizations within golf, the industry donates nearly $4 billion a year. Top that Bill Gates!

This all adds up to that $176.8 billion indirect economic impact I mentioned earlier – and this is just within the United States! There’s no doubt golf contributes much more on a global scale.

So the next time you’re walking alone down a quiet fairway, just remember – every ball you lose; every dollar of your greens fees; every soft spike you wear-down contributes in some small way to the economic juggernaut that is the golf industry.

The complete report can be found HERE.

The USGA Rule Book: Etiquette

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How well do you know golf rules?
How well do you know golf rules?

Let me go out on a limb and state that most weekend golfers probably try to follow the USGA rules. Sure, we might not walk back to the tee to re-hit a ball that’s gone OB (or play a provisional). And we sometimes take mulligans and gimmies, but for the most part, we try to play the game right.

But do we really know the rules? I’m sure many of you have thumbed-through the USGA rule book, but have you read it cover to cover? Probably not. So in this continuing series, I’m going to write about stuff you find in the rule book – perhaps about things you’ve never even realized.

For example, did you know there is a section in the rule book about etiquette? It’s purpose is to explain how the game “should” be played. In fact, there’s a subsection entitled “The Spirit of the Game” that explains since there are no umpires or referees, it’s up to individual players to take on the responsibility of playing the game correctly.

Under the etiquette section, there are subsections on safety; distractions; and how to act on the green. There is also a good amount of space devoted to keeping the course in good condition – including in the bunkers. I mention bunkers because I always assumed you had to use a rake. But according to the rule book, you just need to “smooth over all holes and footprints.” Only if a rake is “within reasonable proximity” should it be used. Granted, I’ll probably still always use a rake, but it’s interesting to know if you’re in a rush, you can technically smooth the sand out with your foot (and not feel guilty about it).

One common sore spot in golf is slow play. Players (especially weekend hacks like me) are always feeling pressure to keep up the pace – either from the group behind me or from the ranger. I’m constantly striving to catch that elusive 4-hour round. In fact, I’ve written about how a comfortable pace is probably more like 5 hours.

But golf courses tell you it should be 4 hours – why? They make it sound like that’s what it’s supposed to be. But the interesting thing is the rule book doesn’t put a time limit on it! In fact, no where in the rules of golf does it say a round has to take 4 hours (or anywhere close to 4 hours). It simply says, “it is a group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front.” Further, it defines not keeping up when the group ahead has one full hole between you. So if you’re putting-out on the 5th and the group in front is putting-out on the 6th, you’re still good!

But the rules do suggest some things I rarely employ. For example, how often do you allow the group behind you to play through? Do you do it if you’re looking for a lost ball? According to the rules, not only should you allow the group to play through, you should allow them to play through before you even begin your search! Yep, if you think you might use all of your allotted 5 minutes to search for a ball (and the group is on the tee behind you), you should allow them to play through immediately, not after you’ve been searching for a few minutes.

So while we tend to think of etiquette as the unspoken rules in golf, the USGA obviously has a lot to say about it. In fact, it’s the first section of their rule book! The definition of golf terms, which we’ll discuss in a separate post, is Section 2. Golf is a complicated game – but it’s still meant to be enjoyed. Know your etiquette!

Related Posts: The USGA Rule Book: Definitions

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